The Holydrug Couple - Moonlust

These Chilean (inner)space travelers blew our minds a few years ago with their debut full-length, Noctuary, so anticipation was, er, high that, contrary to Richard Ashcroft’s admonition, the drugs do work and we’d be transported to heaven once again. Well, they’ve branched out into electronica and soundtrack fluffiness (and French electronica soundtrack fluffiness at that), so you’ve got to prepare yourself for some chillout pop music this time around. So if that’s not your thing, you’ll be forgiven if you bail on the rest of this review.

For those of you still with me, you can expect some Air-y fairy fru-fru floaters with a distinctly Euro-tronica vibe somewhere between The KLF’s classic Chill Out and The Orb or Röyksopp. ‘Light or Night’ enlivens the proceedings with an effects-laden guitar solo, but sprightly feel-good signposts like ‘French Movie Theme’ and ‘Generique Noir’ flicker through the air and will catch the attention of all ye De Wolfe, KPM, and particularly Editions Montparnasse 2000 library music label collectors.

Now I enjoy a space-age bachelor pad chillout as much as the next Viagra-chompin’ bloke, but even this gets tired pretty fast. ‘Baby, I’m Going Away’ ventures into Philly soul territory that was probably best left unexplored – unless you still play your old Culture Club records, in which case this will certainly highlight your next 80s-themed dance party.

Not exactly the direction I was hoping they’d head in, but a pleasant diversion for a lazy Sunday summer afternoon cruising La Grande Corniche with the top down. Maybe Ashcroft was right, after all.